RICHMOND, VA.-- Nick George scored a career and season high 27 points
and B.A. Walker 16 with eight rebounds as the Rams of Virginia Commonwealth (10-8/6-3) handed ODU its first CAA loss of the year, 75-71
Saturday afternoon in the Alltel Pavilion.

ODU jumped out to an 18-5 lead with 13:11 left in the first half. The
Monarchs led by 12 with 7:47 left at 22-10 , but VCU outscored them
22-9 in the final seven minutes to cut the lead to three, 32-29 at
halftime.

In the second half, VCU took it's first lead on Calvin Roland's bucket
17:21 mark to go up 33-32. The Rams took the lead for good on a layup
by Jesse Pellot-Rosa at 15:12 mark to lead 38-37.

The Rams led by as many as ten in the second half three times, the
last at 1:33 left in the game, 70-60. But the Monarchs made a charge
as Kiah Thomas made a basket and a free throw, and Isaiah Hunter hit
a trey to make it 71-66 with 1:12 left. With 23 seconds left,
Hunter hits another trey to make it 74-71.

The Rams missed 2-7 from the free throw line in the last 45 seconds, but
the Monarchs missed their next three three-point attempts and VCU
held on for the win.

ODU shot .338 (23-68) from the floor, their lowest of the season and
were 6-22 from three-point range. The Monarchs did go 19-22 from
the free throw line (.864) and held even with the RAms on the boards
at 40 each.

VCU shot .500 from the floor (26-52) and from three point range (9-18).

ODU junior Alex Loughton had his sixth double-double of the year with
12 points and ten rebounds. Kiah Thomas also had four assists, six
rebounds and a steal to go along with his 16 points. He had 16 as
a freshman at Memphis.

ODU returns home for a Monday night game with Drexel at 7 p.m. in the
Constant Center, then hosts Towson on Wednesday night.